We are only two weeks in to 2013 and there is plenty of time for far more embarrassing financial columns to be written, but The Guardian's financial editor, Heidi Moore, has opened up an early lead in the competition. Moore's column represents five embarrassing elements. She entitled her piece: "'Mint the coin': why the platinum coin campaign doesn't even work as satire."

The first requirement to be a financial reporter is to understand the monetary system and the difference between a sovereign and non-sovereign monetary system. Moore's column demonstrates the multiple levels on which she fails this requisite when she tries to demonstrate that minting a $1 trillion platinum coin would not counter the Republican Party's threat to cause the U.S. default on its obligations and would injure our economy.